Should an autonomous car be able to drive around by itself?
A couple of months ago, we asked our readers whether a child under the legal driving age, a senior who is no longer licensed to drive, and a legally blind person should be allowed to ride in autonomous cars alone. We wanted to find out whether people have different feelings about the three different
Results: Will you miss driving your non-autonomous car?
Driving has become an integral component of our daily lives, especially in developed countries. Cars are not just a means for us to get from point A to point B. They also help us express our personality and show off our character and competencies in the way we drive. For example, a Dodge Charger commercial from three years ago makes this point explicit with the phrase “leader of human resistance.” The Huffington Post UK’s recent (entertaining) video interview shows that the public’s opinion on autonomous cars seems to be mixed in terms of whether people will be willing to give up their driving experience. Realizing that the task of driving can be a valued, personal activity, we wondered whether people will miss the experience of driving once autonomous cars become more available in the consumer market.
Will you miss driving your non-autonomous car?
A few weeks ago, one of our readers, Javier Lopez, submitted a number of questions to the ORi team. He brought up many interesting points, and we won't attempt to cover them all in one poll. But one of them had to do with the fact that some people actually enjoy the driving experience and
Results: Random chance over informed decision
Given a choice between crashing into a motorcyclist wearing a helmet vs. a motorcyclist who isn't wearing one, which one should an autonomous car be programmed to crash into? What about the choice between crashing into an SUV vs. a compact car? These are some of the dilemma situations Professor Patrick Lin brought forth
How should an autonomous car optimize crashes?
A couple of months ago Dr. Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, wrote an article on autonomous cars. The article, titled "The Robot Car of Tomorrow May Just Be Programmed to Hit You", discussed intricate challenges and implications of developing collision optimization algorithms for autonomous cars. He points out